How to re-connect multiple Grid-Connect lights to new Wifi?

[Peterpop]

Grid Connect Arlec - How to re-connect multiple light to new Wifi router and passowrd rather than one by one

[EricL]

Hello @GreyWolfMelb 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with the community.

Were keen to hear more about all your projects and plans around the house and garden. Please feel free to reach out whenever you need assistance or would like to share a project with the community.

Eric

[AlanM52]

Hi @Peterpop,

This is one reason (the main reason) why I don't use ISP router Wi-Fi.

I turned off Telstra Smart Modem wi-fi and use 2 x TP-Link TL-WA1201 AC1200 Wireless Access Points, one inside and one outside.

Most devices (Alexa) connect to the outside AP in the carport (and a couple of extenders) because for me that's where all the fun is - out in the yard.

Cheers

[R4addZ]

Hi @Peterpop 

Most people, when setting up a new router, just accept the wifi setup on the new router or at best change the SSID and password to suit themselves, However, if you go a bit further, you can get away without having to reset any devices. What you have to do is interrogate your old router (probably in LAN settings) for connected devices and you will get a list of all connected devices, their IP addresses and MAC Addresses. The MAC Address is the unique hardware identifier of the device. So in your new router you first change the IP address range to the same as your old router, change the SSID and password to the same as your old router and then somewhere in the menu (probably LAN settings) you can assign IP addresses to MAC Addresses, also known as reserving IP addresses. If you then enter these in the same as the old router, your devices will never know the router has changed, This will also save you needing to reinstall your printers on your computers.

[AlanM52]

G'day mate,

I did suggest my solution to avoid all of that using a dedicated AP and I will add... configure all related devices to use a static IP address, much easier to find (and bookmark) if the device allows web access. I start DHCP at xx.xx.xx.100 and when setting up another static device I simply append to the list which looks like this xx.xx.xx.10 -> xx.xx.xx.45 so next one is 50. I also numerically group similar devices for example Tapo device IP list appears as  30.31.32.33,34...next one 35. In my case that includes Canon A4 and A3 LAN enabled printers.

Cheers

[R4addZ]

Hi @AlanM52 

We always seem to be at odds with each other which is a shame.

I agree that a static ip range is the neater way to go and do like the way you group your devices for ease of identification however most peolple would only ever get into their router if they were setting it up initially or swapping it out (mores the pity). However, having a dedicated AP is fairly restrictive and not necessarily the best use of resources as all an AP is, is an Access Point and all the smarts are in the router so the AP cannot help you avoid this. Better still would be a Mesh so that if there are any mobile products, they can negotiate the best AP to talk to as they move around (thats how my network is set up). The reason I didn't suggest the general user going to static IP addresses is that normally people just add items to their network a piece at a time and so allow DHCP to simply allocate the addresses for them and when it comes to changing the router, having to then re register all their devices can seriously add to the complexity of the task, easier to just reserve the same addresses they had before.

Regards R4 Cisco Certified Network Associate (Lapsed due to retirement)